Vine app for iOS is Twitter for video, makes six-second clips

Brevity is the soul of... oh, I've no time for sayings. Twitter has acquired Vine, an app that lets you shoot and publish six-second looping videos, and has launched its iOS app today.

Available to download right this minute, the app is impressively simple to use. Hold your finger on your phone's screen kicks off filming, and fills up a bar along the top of the screen. When you've tapped-to-shoot six seconds worth of video, your masterpiece will play on a loop, complete with sound.

At this point you have the opportunity to foist your tiny clip upon your social network pals. Twitter and Facebook are both options at the moment, though like Instagram, Vine runs its own social network too, where you can browse other people's efforts.

We've had mixed success in the CNET UK offices, with Editor Jason Jenkins able to make and Tweet a video of the team waving their arms around in mere moments, while every time I try and sign in with Twitter, the app crashes. Ho hum, teething problems and all that.

The app is easy, and -- crucially -- fun to use. With Twitter's marketing oomph behind it, Vine could easily become the hottest new app we use to document our food and endlessly bombard our friends with updates about how great our lives are.

I'd recommend giving it a try for yourself. The app is free, though currently it's only available for iOS. An Android version is in the works, Slashgear reports, so fans of Google's green robot should hold tight.

Have you tried the app? What do you think? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.